Family Reunion Forum

Hi Mel,
First of all, thank you for your shoulder.
In answer to your questions, yes this is the first "professional" reunion. The home state is Arkansas and like I said, the city is so small that there is nothing to do there. The first one we had was a huge success because family was ready for it. Then it started skrinking as the years went by because there wasn't anything to do other than pay money to come, get there and fin for yourselves.
We later found out that the out of town relatives were mainly the ones who paid the fees.
As much as I love my hometown, the fact is that there isn't anything there. That's another reason that most of our responses are from the "northern" relatives who had stopped going to the reunions. Their only mall is a Walmart and their nightclubs are in the woods looking like Harpo's juke joint. But I love it!
They charged $125 per person, we are charging $35 per adult and the price goes up per family with the highest being $150.00 for a family of 6 and over. Then they are responsible for their own hotels. Therein lies the problem. I got the hotel to discount their rooms from $176 to $74 a night but they feel that's too much!
Unfortunately, I am not the only one who is on the committee. I have a sister who talks in spreadsheets, another one who is always negative and one who is zeroed in on food cost. Then the treasurer is telling certain people not to send in fees because it may be cancelled later! I feel like the guy in the Snapple commerical, "What is my purpose here"
I know one thing for sure, "I will never ever do this again!
Lorine